Crushing It: Your Media Interview
As your work soars, so does media interest — and often with minimal notice because who can preempt which efforts will soar or plummet? In this week’s post, you’ll find do’s and don’ts for speaking with the media. These suggestions draw from my own reporter vantage point writing on social trends and struggles for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. I also draw from what I’ve learned teaching. training, and coaching leaders in corporate communications who, like you, feel a mixed bag of excitement, pride, and fear when speaking with the media about their work.
Know: Journalists are People — Just Like You
When someone with power and/or influence wants to quiz us about our life and work, the head mental critic, i.e. the all-mighty Judge, can misjudge you, your situation, and your audience. To avoid any full hijacking, stay on course and let your Sage (i.e. the kind, gracious, strategic and calm part of your mind) pave the way with this potentially helpful approach:
- Preempt this normal reaction
- Build empathy for yourself and your audience. Think of your reporter as equal to you vs. above you. As one marine leader once told me: We all put our pants on the same way.
- Avoid assuming ill-intent. The reporter’s a job to do: Learn more about you and your work so they can share this wisdom with a greater audience
- Avoid assuming your reporter’s communications are perfect. A leader who worries about stubborn verbal filler in their opening often discovers the reporter inserts filler words throughout.
Pull Ourselves Together
An often overlooked prep plan ties to how we look (and in digital interviews our lighting, framing, and backdrop.) Know that we feel and seem more confident when we pull ourselves together. This step may mean:
- Formalizing a bit, per your audience culture, and dressing up in ways which show respect to you, others, and your brand.
- Decluttering our background. Moving our web cam to a simpler space and/or scene that says something about you.
- Getting our hair done (or anything else fixed) so we feel our best.
Trust me. I’ve taught or facilitated online and live in-person workshops and classes for years. Now I coach full-time on camera. It works.
Remember: Your Audience Wants (and Needs) to Know About Your Work
Another grounding approach ties to recasting the entire idea of the interview to become less about you and more about the greater community. Meaning: Any discomfort you might feel right now about this interview becomes a worthy cause because others can benefit from your wisdom. A few self-coaching questions help me relinquish self doubt:
- If I say ‘no’ to this interview/opportunity/sharing, what do I ‘yes’ to?
- If I could look back at my life as my wiser, elder self, what would she/he guide me to notice? What would she/he want me to ignore?
- If I choose not to share my ideas in this moment, what’s at stake? What might change for the better — even a little — if I manage this moment?
Keep Your Response’s Helpful — and Audience Centered
With the mental fitness component of the strategy underway, we’ve room to build further confidence through getting tactical with our responses. To offer valuable insight, try:
- Keeping your response short, crisp, and relevant. Aim for two-minutes as a maximum response.
- Knowing your audience. Consider what you think your audience might want to know to help customize your responses — and ask the reporter.
- Avoiding unpacking too much in the one answer. Offer more substance as the interview proceeds, because the curious reporter will ask.
- Keeping the language accessible. Following the Economist style guide rule of avoiding a complicated word when a simple one will do works well. Sir Richard Branson’s advice on speaking to your audience as though they were a dear friend sitting on your living room couch helps, too.
- Providing substance. And this last part leads to our next offering.
Avoid Sounding Vague or Ambiguous. Offer Specifics
When interviewing experts for various articles I wrote on social trends and struggles, surprisingly few offered me depth or specifics, unless I prodded. And yet any scant response yielded minimal “meat or potatoes for my stew’ and risked my editor “killing” my story with a reduced pay kill fee, because it resembled PR fluff. Ultimately, without specifics, the work does not get published. To help your reporter, you might:
- Offer a story to illustrate
- Provide concrete examples
- Show vs. tell what has changed in the industry from your work/offering and some narrative on the struggles you’ve overcome or the problems you solved which helped get you there
- Acknowledge what your legal team/marketers prevent you from speaking to; but counter with something equally as revealing you can speak to
- Offer some small vulnerability, which becomes our last offering.
Let Your Guard Down a Little. Be Real.
Thinking back on this time — often reporting four features a month — my favorite interviews come from those who let me in to their heart, even a little. To offer those moments in ways which feel real and authentic to you, but also helpful for your audience, try:
- Releasing any fears about being vulnerable
- Thinking about the human connection your writer can build upon
- Letting go of the need to seem or be perfect and getting out of your comfort zone a little bit with each interview
I’m hoping these tips help you feel more confident, calm, and prepared for your next (or your very first) media interview. Go forth!
Debbi Gardiner McCullough coaches and trains immigrant leaders to become more confident, concise, and authentic communicators. From Wisconsin, she owns and runs Hanging Rock Coaching and serves as a communication effectiveness fellow coach to leaders all over the globe with BetterUp.